Paul's favourite things - Extra virgin olive oil

Hi Guys,

I have decided to write a few posts about some of my favourite food related things, starting with something that really gets my tastebuds excited.

Olive Oil is a beautiful thing and I love it. It is used in pretty much everything I cook. A good olive oil is not only essential for a wonderful salad dressing, I've even used it in cakes and muffins instead of butter. Extra virgin olive oil on it's own, or with some aged balsamic vinegar, as a simple dip for home-baked bread is without doubt one of life's great pleasures. and I urge you all to go and get yourself a bottle right now and start dipping . . . . . . thinking about it, maybe wait till the end of the post as I've got a few tips for finding a great one.

Some people are a bit funny about oil, I've been noticing this more and more through the cooking classes at the Ministry of Food. The reality is that, yes it is fat, and yes too much fat is bad for you, but Olive oil is a good fat. What do I mean by good fat? Well without becoming too "sciencey", what I mean is that unlike things like butter, cheese and chocolate which are all bad fats, or saturated and trans fats,  Olive Oil is a monounsaturated fat and is actually good for your heart. 

What monounsaturated fats do is to help reduce the bad cholesterol in your body. We need fat in our diet, to help give us energy, so sticking to healthier fats as much as possible is without doubt the right way to go.

Cooking with Olive oil instead of butter or vegetable oil is an easy way to start, and including nuts and avocado's, which are other examples of good fats, into your food is another easy way of helping your heart out. Those of you who followed my London to Cornwall cycle ride last summer will know that we raised money for the British Heart Foundation, and raising awareness about keeping your heart healthy is something I am very passionate about. 

Getting back to helping you choose a great bottle of extra virgin olive oil leads me to tell you a little about how it is produced, and what you should be looking out for.

Olive oil comes from the process of grinding and pressing olives grown from olive trees. These trees are native to the Mediterranean, with Spain, Italy and Greece responsible for the majority of all oil produced worldwide. 

The process of extracting the oil can differ, depending on the equipment and technique used and this is what defines the grade of the oil. I won't go into this too much, as I want to stay on the good side of the "geek" line, but here is a basic breakdown of what you need to know based on what you'll find in the supermarket.

• Extra virgin olive oil is the top grade oil, it has a superior taste and is the one you want to look for for dipping your bread into, and using in dressings. It breaks down too easily when you add heat to it, so you don't want to use it for cooking. It is produced without the aid of chemicals, which is where the "virgin" part comes from.
• Olive oil is a blend of the processes used to make virgin olive oil and refined production olive oil, which means that chemicals are used to extract some of the oil, and then blended with the pure oil produced without the chemicals. This oil reacts far better to heat and is ideal for cooking, it has a milder flavour than extra virgin olive oil. This is what I use instead of butter and vegetable oil, making my cooking healthier and better for my heart.

So what should you be looking for in a good oil for dipping? For a start it has to be extra virgin, not only for the grade, but the flavour too. You would be surprised at how much flavour and also diversity of flavour can be packed into a bottle. I tend to like oils with a really strong grassy or peppery flavour. I find that Italian olive oils, for this reason are where it's at for me, but I am still always on the look out for different oils to try and disprove this for me, who knows what i'll find!

Reading the labels is a good place to start, it seems really obvious to say, but I bet most people buying oil take the same approach to the way they buy wine and go purely on price.

I tend to look for an italian oil with DOP written on the label. That means that it has a protected place of origin, and therefore meets the high standards of the area. Think of it in the same way as listed building status, you can't go messing about with it, so it retains it's status and character. Not saying that other oils aren't as good, just that it's something that I look for.

Other countries have their own special labeling marks which all relate to the same sorts of things, Greece for example uses PDO or PGI.

You also want to find an oil with low acidity, this will give you the fresh flavours that I love so much.

Try to find a bottle that tells you the date the oil was produced, like a wine, different seasons and years can affect the quality and definition of the flavour.

The other thing to consider is that Extra virgin olive oil isn't the cheapest thing in the world, but if you are savvy and look at the label, you can get a decent bottle for around £5. 

Sainsburys "taste the difference" Italian oils are a good place to start, and the one in the picture above is a good one to go for, as is the one from Tuscany. They might not be amazing, but without spending 3 times the price for a world class olive oil, like the other ones in the picture, they are a decent compromise, and a great way to ease yourself in.

I don't think I have quite found the "definitive" extra virgin olive oil yet, and am being introduced to new ones all the time. We use a great Greek one at the Ministry of Food made by a company called Olive Branch, so I recommend you check them out too. My next port of call is to explore Greek ones a little more, as I tend to get stuck in Italy too much but this is a lifetime's journey and one that I hope you will join me on. Any recommendations will be greatly welcome.

Thanks for reading!